Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

A Long Petal of the Sea, by Isabel Allende, Isabel Allende

7 reviews

charley0796's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

A historical fiction about the Spanish Civil War and Chilean Coup - emphasis on the history and information with some entwining of character’s stories. It spans a whole generation, with quick jumps between time periods, which can make it hard to form bonds to the characters. 

I’m glad I read this book, I knew nothing about these two periods of history so I found it interesting to learn about. However, I just couldn’t connect to the characters and felt at arms length (something many other readers seem to feel). At first I felt that there were too many POVs considering we only actually follow Roser and Victor. Characters we have spent time with and you think are going to be incorporated into the main story vanish half way through (Ofelia), coming back with a bit of a butchered character - which is somewhat understandable with what happened. 
There was also some misogyny and mention of rape, and adult physical abuse, which I think more reflects the time period accurately and so didn’t bother me like another reviewer. The two main women were business women in their own right.

Overall,  it didn’t capture me enough to score more than 3.5 - it was just too matter of fact.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Murder

Moderate: Xenophobia

Minor: Sexism, Torture, and Rape

bridgetkay's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Allende handled the historical context well, deftly placing her protagonists as Catalan refugees from the Spanish civil war who establish a new home in Chile, only for that to result in a dictatorship also. However, the setting is not the focus of the novel, with relationships being what anchors this novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, and War

Moderate: Death, Terminal illness, Torture, Blood, Genocide, Xenophobia, Child death, Miscarriage, Violence, Sexual violence, Cancer, Police brutality, Rape, and Pregnancy

solacelight's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Unfortunately, Allende fails to evoke true emotion beyond the emotion of a fact, in either the reader or the characters. This is a story of selfish people with in a time of great upheaval, personally and otherwise. Even the love Allende so deeply relies on is not truly explored. They don't feel like real people. However, it is undoubtedly incredibly well-researched. Read this for the history with an extra hit of intrigue, not for the story itself. The story is not about the characters, rather the characters are vehicles of history.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Gore, Infidelity, and War

Moderate: Cancer, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Terminal illness, and Antisemitism

Minor: Colonisation, Incest, Suicide, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship

beckbrl's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia and War

kkbray's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Confinement, and Xenophobia

Minor: Torture

the_clueless_tourist's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death of parent, Medical content, Violence, and War

Moderate: Misogyny, Torture, Xenophobia, and Sexual content

sarah984's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

The history that this book was based on was fascinating, but I think I would have preferred to read a straight-up history book to this work of historical fiction. The characters are all very vaguely drawn and have extremely predictable stories. The reader is always told how the characters feel instead of it being demonstrated in the text, and somehow despite all of the characters’ hardships everything seems to always work out neatly for them so the stakes felt weirdly low.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Fatphobia, Grief, Gore, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Cancer, Dementia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Rape, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Torture, and Xenophobia